3/13/2009

Burger Crawl Part 1: Our Search for the Best Burger in Los Angeles (or at least the Westside)

Win has been eating super-healthy lately and drooling over my burger posts. For his birthday he mentioned that he wanted to eat a good burger. So I surprised him with a Birthday Burger Crawl. My plan was to go to three different places for dinner, at each one get a burger. I did a little hunting around and came up with three contenders. It turned out to be a fun and delicious evening with a great discovery.

First stop was Rockenwagner's 3 Square Cafe + Bakery on Abbott Kinney. The bakery has delicious baked goods. I see them all around Los Angeles at just about every farmers' market in LA, and frequently purchase delicious goodies from them. I'd heard many raves about the cafe and their Pretzel Burger and was glad to finally have the opportunity to check this casual cafe out.

The large burger came with caramelized onions and Swiss cheese. The big patty was cooked to perfection, medium rare. The only thing I didn't like about it was the heavy char marks from the grill on both on the burger and bun. It added a little too much of a tar flavor to the gourmet hamburger.

We split the burger with the Avocado Fries with fire-roasted salsa. The fries sound better than they tasted. They were deep fried like the Zuchini Zircles are at Hamburger Hamlet, only not as good because the avocado on the inside was soft and bland. They would have been more exciting with a little cheese fried in with the slice of avocado, maybe a crotin de chèvre or an Asiago.

The menu is quite impressive and had we not had other stops to contend with that night, I would have liked to sample the Tuna Burger with avocado and chayote squash, the Spatzle, and the Pumpkin Bread Pudding with autumn fruit compote. Instead we got in our car and eagerly headed to our next stop in quest of the next great burger.

Stay tuned for the next stop on our Birthday Burger Crawl: the dive bar.

Alli411 Tip

1. Parking on Abbot Kinney can be hairy. Valet available around the corner on San Juan Ave.

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